is your church a cult?

There's a giant push in religious America to "stay with the flock". Huge lifestyle complexes are being built to address all aspects of their patrons' lives. Besides the traditional roles, providing worship, and schooling, these centers are providing childcare, workout, even coffeeshops and dating. By immersing their flocks in a controlled milieu, such that every aspect of their life is in the church, these places of worship start to take on Waco-like characteristics. Poor Waco.

My question is: Is this a Good Thing? I wonder whether this "closing down" to the rest of the world, this building of faith, will also decrease tolerance and understanding of those who do aren't part of the faith. Just as a puppy who is not socialized to strangers is likely to be wonderful to its immediate pack, but fearful (and mean) toward strangers and other dogs. It's interesting to map Lifton's Eight Criteria of Mind Control out onto the communities ("religious" or not) that we belong to. Perhaps it is important for us to examine how much we are being manipulated. Do we listen only to Air America Radio or Rush Limbaugh and his ilk? We are in danger.